More murders rock western Jamaica

Despite efforts by the Area One police to curb crime and apprehend gunmen, western Jamaica continues to bleed, with five murders taking place over the past six days.

The latest incident occurred in Westmoreland on Sunday, where 27-year-old cookshop operator Joel Frazer was killed by armed men.

Reports from the Savanna-la-Mar police are that shortly after 6:40 p.m. on Sunday, Frazer was among a group of persons at a cookshop he operated along Dalling Street, when armed men rode up on a motorcycle and shot him several times. The police were summoned, and Frazer was rushed to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“The Westmoreland police are being affected by miles of terrain and lack of mobility,” one senior officer told The Gleaner.

“Since the start of the year, the parish of Westmoreland has recorded a vast amount of murders, which include eight persons being killed in one day, but the police have now gotten additional manpower and we aim to quell most of these murders which have been taking place, and which are mostly gang related.”

Other killings

The other four killings include two that took place in St James last Thursday. Clive Brown, a 33-year-old taxi operator of Norwood, was shot and killed in his community, while 51-year-old Anis Lois Carr, of Chapelton, Clarendon, was found shot to death in her motor vehicle in Bogue, on the outskirts of Montego Bay.

Last Wednesday, 37-year-old labourer Raygan Wilson, of Land Top in Chester Castle, Hanover, was shot dead in his community.

The other victim, who still remains unidentified, was chopped to death by an angry mob in Westmoreland, after he and another man reportedly went to a location in Little London to steal a motorcycle. Both men were chased, chopped and beaten. The unidentified man died at the scene, while the other man was handed over to the police along with a homemade gun.

Since January, 12 persons have been killed in Hanover, nine in Trelawny, 37 in Westmoreland and 45 in St James.